solitaries

Written by S. Cunningham in "Living Wicca"

Before time was, there was The One; The One was all & all was The One.

And the vast expanse known as the Universe was The One, all-wise, all-pervading, all-powerful, eternally changing.

And Space moved. The One molded energy into twin forms equal but opposite, fashioning the Goddess and God from The One and of The One

The Goddess & God stretched and gave thanks to The One, but darkness surrounded them. They were alone, solitary save for The One.

So they formed energy into gases and gases into suns and planets and moons; They sprinkled the Universe with whirling globes and so all was given shape by the hands of the Goddess and God. Light arose and the sky was illuminated by a billion suns. and the Goddess and Gods, satisfied by their works, rejoiced and loved, and were one.

From their union sprang seeds of life, and of the human race, so that we might achieve incarnation upon the Earth.

The Goddess chose the Moon as her symbol, and the God the Sun as his symbol to remind the inhabitants of Earth of their fashioners.

All are born, live, die and are reborn beneath The Sun and Moon; all things come to pass thereunder, and all occurs with the blessings of The One, as has been the way of existence before time was.

Goddess & God
Goddess

The Goddess is the mother of all life in the universe. Life comes forth from her, she is the bringer and the take awayer of Life, Death, and Rebirth. The Witch Goddess who introduces herself in these words:

No other law but love I know,
By naught but love may I be know,
And all that liveth is my own,
From me they come, to me they go.
Some symbol that represent the Goddess are the cup, cauldron, five-petalled flowers, seashell, pearl and silver. As She has dominion over the Earth, sea and moon, Her creatures are varied and numerous. "A few include the rabbit, bear, owl, cat, dog, bat, goose, cow, dolphin, lion, horse, scorpion, spider and bee. All are sacred to the Goddess" (Cunningham, 1989). To Witches, She is the Mother, Maiden, and Crone. She is neither young nor old. She is the three phases of the Moon. She is call by many different names which include:

Diana, Selene, Aphrodite, Aradia, Athemis, Athena, Bast, Brigit, Cybele, Demeter, Freya, Hathor, Hecate, Hera, Iris, Isis, Juno, Kerridwen, Minerva.
God

The God is father Sun. He rules from Yule to Midsummer Eve. He rules the forest, the god of the hunt and the protector of animals. Like the Goddess the God has many names:

The Horned, God, Pan, Odin, Apollo, Ares, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Osiris, Ra, Thoth, Woden, and Zeus.
The God is also the tender of the wild animals. "As the Horned God He is sometimes seen wearing horns on His head, symbolizing His connection with these beasts"(Cunningham, 1989) and all things wild.

The Law
Written by S. Cunningham in "Living Wicca"

We are of the Old Ways, among those who walk with the Goddess and God and receive Their love.

Keep the Sabbats and Esbats to the best of your abilities, for to do otherwise is to lessen your connection with the Goddess and God.

Harm none. This, the oldest law, is not open to interpretation or change.

Shed not blood in ritual; the Goddess and God need not blood to be duly worshiped.

Those of our ways are kind to all creatures, for hurtful thoughts are quiet draining and aren't worth the loss of energy.

Misery is self-created; so, too, is joy, so create joy and disdain misery and unhappiness. And this is within your power. So harm not.

Teach only what you know, to the best of your ability, to those students who you choose, but teach not to those who would use your instructions for destruction or control. Also, teach not to boost pride, forever remember: She who teaches out of love shall be enfolded in the arms of the Goddess and God.

Ever remember that if you would be of our way, keep the law close to your heart, for it is the nature of the Wicca to keep the Law.

If ever the need arises, any law may be changed or discarded, and new laws written to replace them, so long as the new laws don't break the oldest law of all: Harm None. Blessings of the Goddess and God on us all.

Law of Power
Written by S. Cunningham in "Living Wicca"

The Power shall not be used to bring harm, to injure or control others. But if the need rises, the Power shall be used to protect your life or the lives of thers.

The Power is used only as need dictates.

The Power can be used for your own gain, as long as by doing so you harm none. It is unwise to accept money for use of the Power, for it quickly controls its taker.

Be not as those of other religions.

Use not the Power for prideful gain, for such cheapens the mysteries of Wicca and magick.

Ever remember that the Power is the sacred gift of the Goddess and God, and should never be misused or abused. And this is the law of the Power.

Threefold Law

It is a belief of in one's actions both positive and negative, will come back to us threefold.

Thirteen Goals of a Witch
Written by S. Cunningham in "Living Wicca"

1. Know yourself.
2. Know your Craft.
3. Learn.
4. Apply knowledge with wisdom.
5. Achieve balance.
6. Keep your words in good order.
7. Keep your thoughts in good order.
8. Celebrate life.
9. Attune with the cycles of the Earth.
10. Breathe and eat correctly.
11. Exercise the body.
12. Meditate.
13. Honor the Goddess and God.

Magick

Witches and Witchcraft are firmly linked with use of magick through history. It is one our basic concepts of Witchcraft. One aspect of magick helps Witches have a special relationship with Goddess and God.

Magick has always been a mystery to people who do not practice the Craft. Some people think that they could just try doing a spell, just to see if the spell will work. Spells need both time and effort to work right. When performing any type of magick one must always think about the Wiccan Rede. This means that if you do something, be it for youself or someone else, if it harms, it will come back to you threefold. Magick is Nature, one should not use magick against another person or animal.

There are many different ways a Witch can perform magick or spells including using Runes, tarot card readings, candle burning, crystals, herbal, brews and so on. These methods have been around for a very long time but we had lost a lot of these methods because of the Burning Times. We are just now rediscovering the old method of magick.

"Energy exists within all things--ourselves, plants, stones, colors, sounds, movement" (Wicca, Cunningham.,1989). These items are use as a type storehouse of energy. One can tap into the energy when needed. Witches have three main ways to tap into magick, personal energy power, Earth power, and divine power.

"The movement of natural (yet subtle) Energies to manifest positive, needed change. Magic is the process of rousing energy giving it purpose (through Visualization), and releasing it to change. This is a natural (not supernatural) practice"(Wicca, Cunningham.,1989).

Do's and Don'ts of Wicca/Witchcraft
Do's

We do celebrate Life, try not to take a life. It is important that to keep in mind the Wiccan Rede. An it harm none, do what thou wilt.
We do believe in the Goddess and God. They are equal in the role they have in our lives.

Don'ts

Witches do not worship Satan.
Witches do not sacrifice living creatures.

What is your Witch Potential?

by The Witches' Almanac

Reincarnation is a basic tenet of Witchcraft. Those of us fortunate enough to belong to the Craft believe that successive lives are enjoyed under the same zodiac sign. But unlike other ideologies Witchcraft imposes no demands for increasing excellence - only that each life be lived to its fullest capabilities.
Most of us, despite centuries of indoctrination by the mechanized society, still have ties to the earth...some innate Witchcraft potential that can be developed.

Read the following questions and see how you react to them:

Have you always been intrigued by the occult?
Do you prefer night to day?
Does a storm stir in you an inexplicable sense of excitement?
Are you a sensualist?
Have you always felt different from most of those around you, set apart?
Do you instinctively respond to animals?
Are you comfortable alone?
Are you relatively indifferent to material possessions?
Have you had fleeting glimpses of former lives?
Should you find you can answer most of these questions in the affirmative your witch potential is probably high and should be encouraged.

There is no church to join, no tribute to pay and no hierarchy to employ. You, and you alone, must concentrate on the development of your own other-consciousness. Go to nature and observe. Attune your inner-mechanism to the quiet pace of the seasons and the procession of the constellations across the sky. Go alone, or with that person closest to you. Watch the moon rise, walk in the forests. Feel the earth, drink the water, breathe the air...then light the sacred candles and begin the life you were meant to live.

(* The Witches' Almanac Spring 1995 - Spring 1996 pg. 94 ** Originally appeared in the first public edition of The Witches' Almanac, 1971)

A Wiccan Altar

Written by S. Cunningham in "Living Wicca"
As the physical center of your religious observances, the altar is of prime importance. Theories concerning the significance of and the proper arrangement of tools on altars varies. That altars are necessary, however, is rarely questioned. Once again, altars don't necessarily make the Wiccan, but the use of such altars is one of the defining yardsticks of Wiccan practices.

However much we may enjoy spontaneous rituals in a moonlit forest, while watching a desert sunset or lying on a grassy plain, structured rituals are an important part of long-standing Wiccan tradition, and structured rituals ( more often than not) are performed with altars.

Many books contain altar designs and layouts' mat you can use to create your own. As most Wiccan traditions utilize a specific altar arrangement, so too can your tradition. Here are some basics:

The altar is always round. The altar is always square. The altar is always rectangular. The altar can be of any shape. This pretty much sums Wiccan round regarding the appropriate shape of the altar. Many use round altars to symbolize, among other matters, the Goddess. Make your decision.

The Image or symbol of the Goddess can be placed to me left of the altar as you stand before it; the image of the God to the right. South and the bowl of water, chalice, cauldron, bell and other tools to the West. (This and the above system can't be simultaneously, and neither is more correct, )

Tools associated with the Goddess ( the chalice, bells, brooms, cauldrons) are often placed to the left. Tools associated with the God (swords, wands, the white handled knife, a bowl of salt, the censer) are often placed to the right on the altar. Other tools may be placed in the center: the pentacle, the censer, fresh flowers or greens.

Candle usually placed where they can't easily be knocked over, if at the rear of the altar.

A totally different method of arranging the altar takes the elements into account. Earthy tools (pentacle, salt) are placed to the North; the censer and incense to the East to represent Air; a red candle to the South and the bowl of water, chalice, cauldron, bell and other tools to the West. (This and the above system can't be used simultaneously, and neither is more correct. )

Leave space on your altar for your opened Book of Shadows, create or find a small stand on which to place the Book during rituals. Though our rituals should be memorized, we can all have lapses of memory and it's nice to have a reminder close at hand.

The altar is sacred. Not that the Goddess and God live within it, but because we utilize it and the tools that it bears for spiritual purposes. Thus, only objects directly connected with Wicca and/or magical rites performed in the circle should be placed on the altar.

If, after ritual, the altar is used for other purposes ( as, perhaps, a coffee table) , at such times it ceases to be an altar. Only when it's covered with the tools of our religion and used as a focal point for ritual does it become an altar.

These are generalities, you should be able to find one that works for you. There are many books on this subject. Make a sketch for your altar in your Book of Shadows.

But have in mind whys and how's of the arrangement.
Wiccan Rede or Witches Rede

( * From GREEN EGG, Vol. VIII, No. 69 (Ostara, 1975).
It's Part of an article called "Wiccan-Pagan Potpourri" by Lady Gwen Thompson (now deceased), founder and High Priestess of Welsh Tradition Wicca. In the original version of the Rede, each two-line couplet was numbered, 1 through 26.

Bide the Wiccan Laws we must in Perfect Love and Perfect Trust.
Live and let live, fairly take and fairly give.
Cast the Circle thrice about to keep the evil spirits out.
To bind the spell every time let the spell be spake in rhyme.

Soft of eye and light of touch,speak little, listen much.
Deosil go by the waxing moon, chanting out the Witches' Rune.
Widdershins go by the waning moon,chanting out the baneful rune.
When the Lady's moon is new, kiss the hand to her, times two.

When the moon rides at her peak,then your heart's desire seek.
Heed the North wind's mighty gale, lock the door and drop the sail.
When the wind comes from the South, love will kiss thee on the mouth.
When the wind blows from the West,departed souls will have no rest.

When the wind blows from the East, expect the new and set the feast.
Nine woods in the cauldron go, burn them fast and burn them slow.
Elder be the Lady's tree, burn it not or cursed you'll be.
When the Wheel begins to turn, let the Beltane fires burn.

When the Wheel has turned to Yule, light the log and the Horned One rules.
Heed ye Flower, Bush and Tree, by the Lady, blessed be.
Where the rippling waters go, cast a stone and truth you'll know.
When ye have a true need, hearken not to others' greed.
With a fool no season spend, lest ye be counted as his friend.
Merry meet and merry part, bright the cheeks and warm the heart.
Mind the Threefold Law you should, three times bad and three times good.
When misfortune is enow, wear the blue star on thy brow.

True in Love ever be, lest thy lover's false to thee. Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill: An ye harm none, do what ye will.

by Lady Gwen Thompson.

Burning Times

In this section I will talk about the "Burning times". Why it happened and how long it lasted, also I will have a list of the names known of whom were executed in the name of God by most Christians. I will add that this happened back then, peoples views were different, they thought differently than most people do today, so don't go out and critisize all Christians for the act that "these" ones did, a lot of them have come to accept us.

History Lesson

The first major witch-hunt in the modern sense occured in 367 CE (common era) by the order of the Roman emporer Valerian. In it's early stages the Christian church was lenient towards witchcraft. If found "guilty" of practicing you were only required to do penance. Struggling to consolidate the power of the church, recognized that all-out conflict with the extreemely numerous devotees of the Old Religion would be disastrous. So for the time being they tolerated witchcraft.
But once the church grew stronger, their attitude towards witchcraft began to stiffen. They were now strong enough to fight openly against the Old Faith as most of them had been converted to Christianity.
The witch-craze mania obsessed Europe from about 1050 to approximately the 17th century where it subsided occasionally but then attained greater fury. Witnesses were paid to testify against the accused, children were encouraged to inform against their parents, neighbours against each other and husbands against wives. If a conviction was the reason a witness helped out, the witness would get a share of the land, property and any other possessions the convicted "witch" had, and the courts would get the rest.
Inhuman tortures were inflicted to force a confession. Some of these included the hot iron, lashing, cutting, burning and threats against their families. for each conviction the inquisitors got they were paid a fee. So you can see why they attacked so many people. That's what happens when you involve money!! Anyway here was a brief history, let's get on with this page shall we!!

The Reason Behind The Killings

Okay now this could get a little interesting, so just stay calm as you read this.
Witchcraft is not based on dogma and scriptures. Witchcraft, the Old Religion takes all it's inspirations and teachings from Nature. Now there were some people who believed that harmful magick existed in their world and that people attained this "evil" power through a pact with Satan!! Women were believed to be sexually insatiable so they were considered to be more vulnerable to the powers of the devil, now with this I totally disagree!!lol.
Personal revenge plays a huge factor in the Burning Times. If someone had done something and the victim of the incident wanted revenge they could easily make up a story about the person being a witch and it would be taken care of. An illness or death in the family was also blamed on witchcraft, as was drought and any other natural disaster. All these things started a few witch-hunts and and carried on from there. Then sooner than you think there were a ton of them and the "Burning Times" began.
Religious and personal power were also a big factor in the killings. As mentioned above, the Christian church wanted everyone to become Christians therefore telling the Pagans that the God they worshipped was actually the devil. If they didn't change their ways they would be killed. So because of thisreason many converted to Christianity. Personal power was achieved when the "accusor" had successfully helped the town to "get rid of the evil". These people were then admired and gained the respect of the town. It also gave a person favour with the church and the government. So as you can see, there wasn't much you could do if you got convicted.
Now many of these "witches" were not truly witches at all, most of the people executed were innocent men, women and children falsly accused.

It seems that a majority of Wiccans first learned of Wicca by reading books and visiting pagan websites. They become interested and actively seek out the pagan community in their area to join or form their own coven. Then, there are those that continue their solitary studies but stay in the outskirts of the pagan community, taking advantage of open opportunities in the community but never joining or forming a coven. These are the solitary Wiccans. Being a solitary Wiccan has advantages and disadvantages, and it is up to the individual to weigh them.

It is true that sometimes it is not a choice for the Wiccan to be a soliary practioner. When there are no known groups to join, or there is seemingly no way to make contacts within a spiritual path, one must learn to work alone. But hopefully, reavealed here are reasons why it might not necessarily be a negative option.

Some find that the most powerful advantage is the individually-defined focus of study. With a self-defined focus, it is ensured that the Wiccan's desires to learn specific topics is always met. There are really no limitations to the Wiccan's study. The down side to this is that there is no one to guide the learner; therefore, the learner may be missing important teachings, healthy discussions, suggestions, and helpful criticism.

Another advantage to solitary study and work is that it avoids all the problems that can arise from a group/coven dynamic. Examples of these group pressures include group obligations and member competition, among others. There are no set meetings nor any worry of personality conflicts. Also, there is no conflict between neighboring covens (witch wars).

The problem with missing coven dynamic is that the learner is not exposed to the multiple interpretations that would be available to them in a study group or coven. It is always possible for the learner to be influences by a particular text and not be aware of differing interpretations. This could lead to a very hollow study of items that should be explored more deeply. (The problem with this, of course, is that the more interpretations are revealed, the more confused the learner can become.) Also, there is no collaboration with others or group experiences to spark new flames of thought.

An advantage is that the solitare comes closer to the truth behind their faith. They nuture the personal relationship with the deities, and with that reach new levels of enlightenment. They divide their day as they choose, between their work and their study, and accustom themselves to the everyday practice of their faith. This helps them become life-long learners, because they find their own sparks of understanding.

It's true that the solitary Wiccan must be self-driven and their interest must be self-sustaining in order for their learning to develop and grow over the years, and they alone reap the rewards. Remember, the first step on a spiritual journey must be taken alone.

Here are some useful links for solitaries

Arcadia's Circle
A website devoted to Arcadian Wicca. Arcadian Wicca is the name given to this solitary's personally developed tradition.

Witch's Brew: For All of Mother's Children...
Tons of resources for today's solitary Wiccan. With web weaving, an online Book of Shadows, bookstore and so much more.

Pagans.org
Pagans.org is a site that offers webhosting to sites of exceptional quality as a means to network solitary pagans.

Solitary Ecclectica
Learn about the basics, check out the correspondance charts and peruse the Book of Shadows.

Lady Sanura's Realm
Wicca, Colors, Herbs, Candles, Book of Shadows, and other info.

Of Mirth and Magic
A Southern California based page for solitary pagans who wish to attend open circles on the holidays. Circles posted on Request.

The Wiccan Grove
Sacred pages dedicated to all who walk the spiral of the Goddess and the God.

Talmira's Broom Closet
The site of a Solitary Witch with rituals, information, poetry and a section on Norse information. Grab a pillow and a cup of coffee, sit down and and enjoy browsing through my closet. There is always room for one more.